Technical Field
These non-limiting exemplary embodiment(s) relates to medical instrument handles and, more particularly, to an ergonomic multi-functional handle used to manipulate a medical instrument such as an electrosurgical, monopolar, laparoscopic instrument, for example, while reducing user fatigue.
Prior Art
Surgery is a learned skill requiring many years of training to develop an understanding of medical procedures, disease processes and healing that far exceed the basic medical principles. The surgeon must develop hand-to-eye coordination and acquire skills utilizing a variety of highly specialized medical instruments. The medical instruments and tools are an extension of the surgeon's hand. The surgeon's ability to perform the medical procedures with instruments and tools designed to benefit skill is paramount to the successful outcome for the patient. To enhance the medical performance to better serve the patient means developing instrument handles which are responsive, sensitive and ergonomically designed to benefit the natural motions of the human hand.
For example, laparoscopic instruments have been heavily developed for use by surgeons during medical procedures since around 1980s. There are many advantages of laparoscopic surgery compared with open procedure. These advantages include: reduced hemorrhaging which reduces needing a blood transfusion, smaller incision which reduces pain and shortens the recovery time of the patient, reduced scarring, reduced chances of needing pain medication, reduced hospital stays and quicker return to everyday life, and reduced risk of contamination and infection. Disadvantages of a laparoscopic procedure include: limited range of motion in the medical site, poor depth perception by the surgeon, and often laparoscopic tools are not perceived as moving in the same direction as the surgeon's hands.
In a variety of medical devices used for a diversity of medical or non-medical procedures, devices are designed with a dedicated handle or proximal end and a distal or actuation end. Typically medical device handles prescribe how they will be held in the hand by the layout of their handle shape or position of digit retaining portions. In instruments that contain loops, such as can be found in scissors type devices or grasping type devices, the loops are used for opening and closing the end effector, whether that is a scissors, grasper, clamp or similar device. In medical devices and more specifically minimally invasive or laparoscopic devices, a wide variety of angles of use can be generated. Typically a digit-looped device locks the digits and hand into a single orientation that can only function comfortably across a limited range of angles. Both in angles distal or away from the user and oblique angles or angles acutely to the side of the user, devices with digit loops move beyond their effective comfort range and promote hand stress and fatigue. This stress and discomfort is the result of creating unnatural hand postures. These hand postures can create severe wrist adduction or flexion causing discomfort and a loss of strength or leverage to operate the device. In certain instruments such as instruments used for minimally invasive or laparoscopic dissection, a surgeon may operate a looped device for long periods of time, across a wide range of angles.
In other conventional instruments, the handle comprises two holes for insertion of middle digit in one ring and digit in the other ring. The sizes of these rings are often small and not optimized for all types of hand sizes. This method in which the whole instrument is supported by only a thumb and finger and in which case, the hand and wrists make a very awkward and unnatural angle with respect to the angle of use is often very cumbersome to the surgeon and extended use of instrument in this position causes severe fatigue and hand pain. This results in painful situations during extended surgeries.
Accordingly, a need remains for an ergonomic medical instrument handle to overcome at least one of the above-noted shortcomings. The non-limiting exemplary embodiment(s) satisfies such a need by providing an ergonomic medical instrument handle that is convenient and easy to use, lightweight yet durable in design, versatile in its applications, and designed for easily and conveniently enabling a user to articulate his/her digit while operating the medical instrument handle and thereby reduce fatigue and discomfort during extended medical procedures.